16 October 2012

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has awarded $250,000 to each of eight companies and research centers to develop working prototypes for a wide range of energy-storage technologies. The recipients are all members of the NY Battery and Energy Storage Technology (NY-BEST) Consortium.

This is the first of three rounds of funding to help members of NY-BEST move promising technologies toward commercialization. NY-BEST is an industry-focused coalition working to establish New York as a global leader in energy storage technology for heavy-duty transportation, electric grid and other storage applications.

The companies and research centers will use the funding to help to turn energy storage technologies with proven technical feasibility into working prototypes. Under the terms of these awards, each recipient must match NYSERDA’s funding, leveraging NYSERDA’s $2 million with a total of $2.5 million in additional private investment.

The companies and research centers receiving funding include:

Custom Electronics Inc., which seeks to develop a graphene electrolytic capacitor to provide extra energy to ride through power sags, swells, or momentary electric interruptions.

E2TAC, which seeks to enhance lithium-ion capacitors for improved short-term energy storage for applications ranging from hybrid vehicles to power electronics. E2TAC (Energy and Environmental Technology Applications Center) is located at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany.

GE Energy Storage, which seeks to work with Raymond Corp. of Greene to develop an electric forklift for use in freezer warehouses using GE’s Durathon sodium-halide batteries. (Earlier post.) These could replace conventional lead-acid batteries, which work poorly in cold temperatures.

Graphene Devices Ltd., which seeks to develop graphene-based high energy ultracapacitors with three times the energy density of current commercial devices at the same cost. Applications include smart grid devices and the use of energy storage for hybrid vehicles.

Ioxus Inc., which will continue development of its advanced ultracapacitors.

Paper Battery Co., which seeks to develop a production prototype of its thin and flexible ultracapacitor to provide temporary backup power in computing applications.

Primet Precision Materials Inc. (Ithaca), which seeks to lower the manufacturing cost of key raw materials for lithium-ion batteries. These could allow more integration of lower-cost energy storage into the electric grid which could bring lower-cost, reliable electricity to ratepayers.

Urban Electric Power Inc., which is seeking to store a megawatt-hour worth of power in a “flow-assisted” zinc battery that uses an advanced battery management system -- enough to power 40 homes for a day. The stored energy would be used to reduce peak power demand in the city. The project is being developed in conjunction with the CUNY Energy Institute.